Rising Up from the Ashes
by Snatching At Dreams
Summary: it's after the war. Families have been reconciled, lives rebuilt, and the wizarding world is returning to 'normal'. But two sisters still aren't at peace. Will they have courage and rise up from a 27 year long silence? can they ever truly mend?


**I own nothing. The wonderful characters of Andromeda Tonks, Narcissa Malfoy, and others mentioned in this fanfiction all belong to the amazing J.K Rowling. **

The blond woman strode along the lane, her navy clock billowing out behind her. The area was pretty; cornfields and duck ponds, a little village with a church on top of the hill to her right. The lane was sandy, and grass was sprouting in bits of it, as if it wasn't travelled along very often.

Halfway along the lane, the woman stopped, next to a bright blue gate. Pulling out a piece of paper from deep with her robes, she studied it, furrowing her eyebrows. She looked up and down the lane, and upon further examination of the note, decided that she had come to the right place. Placing a slender hand on the gate, she pushed it open, slowly and carefully, as if not to disturb something.  
>Closing the gate on the other side, she set off towards the house. It was a bright and cheery looking place, so different from the Manor in which she lived in. It looked every bit her sister's house. Her sister, the reason she had come.<p>

The house became more detailed as she moved closer. Pink and purple flowers sprouted out of flowerboxes on the windows, an ivy creeper with small white flowers wound its way up a pipe on the wall, and there, at the doorstep, were two pairs of gumboots: one big purple pair and another, a tiny pair, bright orange.

She stood on the doorstep, rather hesitant to announce her presence. Her sister knew she was coming: She had, after all, sent the invitation. But she was still nervous, still frightened of what might happen after all these years of neglect and cold rejection. She stood there, on the doorstep, swaying, quivering between taking the plunge, or turning on her heel and running.

But then she shook herself, straightened up, and Narcissa Malfoy raised a hand and knocked twice on the front door of Andromeda Tonks.

* * *

><p>Something was nagging Narcissa Malfoy. She paced up and down the drawing room, muttering to herself, and her son, Draco, looked on, slightly worried.<br>'Er, Mum?' He asked tentatively. Narcissa stopped and looked over at her son.  
>"Yes dear?'<p>

'Is there anything wrong?'

Narcissa sighed and sank into the armchair next to her son.

'Did you know that you had another aunt aside from Bellatrix?' she asked him suddenly.

Draco nodded slowly.

'She used to be my favourite sister, when I was little. Andromeda and I, we used to get up to so much trouble, aided, of course, by our cousins. We used to have so much fun.' Narcissa sighed again.

'We were carefree then, so oblivious to the storm that was brewing around us. Of course, our little bubble of innocence was popped not long after Andromeda left for Hogwarts. That tended to happen, when you had Bellatrix for a sister. By the time I had arrived at Hogwarts, Andromeda was barely on speaking terms with the family. Friendship with muggleborns was just not allowed in the Black house.'  
>'And then she came home one day and told us, that she was leaving, that she was going to marry a muggleborn, and nobody could stop her. So her name was blasted of the family tree, everyone was forbidden to contact her in any way, and we never spoke of her again.'<p>

Narcissa turned to face her son.

'It was horrible. Andromeda had been my favourite sister, a better sibling than Bella ever was. I would have written to her, but the family was watching me like a hawk, especially Bellatrix.'

'And after I met your father...'

Draco's face darkened slightly, but allowed his mother to continue.

'I just forgot. I gave up. The only indication that she still existed was when, after Bellatrix returned, she would go on and on about killing Andromeda's child – The metamorphmagus auror with the bright pink hair.'

Draco shuddered slightly, knowing that eventually, Bellatrix had achieved this goal she had so desired.

'And now, 27 years later, after two wars, we are the only Blacks left. And now with Bellatrix dead, and your father in Azkaban... well, there's no-one to stop me trying to contact her again.'

Draco nodded slowly.

'But I just can't bring myself to do it. I can't write that letter, begging for forgiveness, because I'm scared of her response. I don't even know where to find her.' She fell into silence.  
>Without a word, Draco stood up and left the room. Narcissa looked up, shocked, believing he had simply walked out in disgust. She had, after all, just insulted his entire family in her little speech.<p>

She was surprised, however, when he returned a few minutes later with parchment and quill, and his owl Septimus sitting on his shoulders. Without so much as a glance in her direction, he scribbled a few lines on the parchment, folded it up, and gave it to Septimus, who clamped it in his beak. Draco walked towards the window, opened it, and the owl took flight. He then turned around the face his mother, the old smug look slightly visible on his face. Narcissa looked at him in bewilderment.

'Potter may get on my nerves most of the time, but he's pretty damn useful when you want to know the location of the grandmother of his god-son.'

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the auror department, Harry Potter was sifting through a pile of papers. It had been a long, but successful week, and now all that was left to do was the paperwork. He sighed heavily. Really, the forms were worse than the actual job. Capture a dark wizard and the amount of paperwork you had to fill in almost had you regretting catching him in the first place. Honestly, Harry didn't remember having to fill in any of this rubbish for Voldemort.<br>Harry's neat, orderly pile was totally ruined when something small and grey whizzed in through the window, knocking the pile into Harry's face and sending his glasses flying. 'Bloody Pig.' Harry muttered, assuming that the owl was Ron's over excited microscopic bird. However, when he had relocated his glasses and shoved them firmly on his face, it was not Pig that greeted him. It was another owl, almost as small, but a lighter grey, and with amber eyes instead of blue.  
>Harry was surprised to see this owl, as he recognised it. It was Draco Malfoy's owl – a relatively young one that Harry had seen Draco buying from Diagon Alley two weeks previously.<br>It was odd enough that Draco was sending Harry a letter – their animosity was, after all, legendary. But the other odd thing was that Draco had sent a letter in the first place. It was not as if owls were Draco's only way of communicating – his house arrest had ended 10 months ago, and Harry was sure, if Draco had something rude to say, he would have come up from his job two floors below and said it to Harry's face. Then again, it was the weekend and it was common knowledge amongst the Aurors that Malfoy only worked weekdays. But something was still odd about Draco Malfoy sending a letter to Harry Potter on a Saturday afternoon.

Sitting down, Harry took the letter from the owl's beak. He unfolded it slowly, still not quite sure than Draco Malfoy, now 20, wasn't still inclined to send Harry Potter an exploding letter.

The letter turned out to be free of enchantments, and Harry spread it out to read it properly.

_Potter_

_I'm not usually inclined to send you a letter on a Saturday afternoon, if ever, so don't be disappointed if the only correspondence you get from me after this is a rude shout down some ministry corridor. However, this is desperate, and desperate times call for desperate measures.  
>My mother wants desperately to get in contact with her sister again. Now that Dear Aunt Bella and Dad are safely out of the way, now would be the perfect opportunity to reconcile with old family members (plus, of course, it wouldn't do any harm to our, I admit, suffering public opinion) <em>

_Since you are the godfather of my aunt's grandson (don't deny it, who else could that green haired child be?), I would assume you know of her whereabouts.  
>Please, for Merlins sake, could I have her address? It has been 27 years since my mother has seen her sister, and she wants to reconcile with the only family (aside from me) that she has left. <em>

_D.M_

_PS – Septimus has a tendency to knock things over – I suggest you keep him well away from any large piles of paperwork. _

Harry read over the letter again, peering at the owl as he read the postscript. It was the bird's name, more than anything else, that had caught him off guard, and it was partly that which made him make his decision.

Harry pulled apiece of parchment out of the top drawer of his desk. Quickly scribbling a note to Andromeda and leaving a little post script for Ginny (who went to Andromeda's every Saturday afternoon), he folded Draco's note inside his and gave it to the owl. Walking the owl over to the window, he gave it Andromeda's address. In understanding, Septimus nibbled on his finger before flying off, and Harry, with a sad little smile on his face, watched the owl fly off into the distance.

* * *

><p>Andromeda Tonks looked over the corn fields from her kitchen window. Down below, in the small garden, Teddy Lupin, her grandson, ran around happily, chased by his practically godmother, Ginny Weasley.<p>

Calling in the two for afternoon tea, Andromeda took down three mugs as Teddy bounced in, followed by Ginny, who looked rather worn out.

'Tea, Ginny?' Andromeda offered.

'That would be lovely, Meda. I've had such a long week.'

Andromeda set the jug to boil and poured Teddy a glass of milk.

'So, how are things going with you and Harry?' Andromeda asked over a mug of boiling tea. Ginny whacked her head on the table in response.

'I hardly ever see him these days, so I wouldn't know! He's working today, you know, filling out paperwork! And with my job with the Harpies on top of that, the only place I really get to see him is at lunch with my family, and that's hardly the place for a nice romantic catch-up.'

Andromeda placed a re-assuring hand on Ginny's.

'Sometimes, you know, you remind me a lot of Nymphadora, the way you worry and fuss over things. Everything's going to be fine. I'm sure you're going to get home and find that Harry's left you a gigantic bunch of enchanted flowers that squeal your name and pump out loveheart confetti all over the place, and then he will take you out on a romantic date and you'll wonder why you ever doubted him.'  
>Ginny laughed.<br>'Thanks Meda. You're probably right, of course. I'm just being silly.'  
>Teddy, who had been staring out the window, began tugging on Ginny's sleeve.<p>

'Yes sweety?'  
>Teddy pointed out into the garden. 'look, Ginny, owl!'<br>Indeed an owl was coming, and it flew into Andromeda's garden, landing on the window sill and hopping around, indicating that it wanted to be let it.

'That's odd. No-one really sends me letters by owl, they just turn up. Unless it's for you, Ginny - Harry knows you're here, after all. Yes yes, I'm coming.' She said to the impatient bird that was now tapping on the window pane.  
>Andromeda opened the window, and snatched the owl up before it could knock anything over in her kitchen in excitement. Carefully placing the small owl of the table, where it began to bounce up and down, she opened the folded parchment.<p>

'Ah, look, it is from Harry!' Andromeda smiled. However her smile quickly faded when she read Harry's letter, and an odd look appeared on her face when she read the letter than had been folded up inside Harry's. Ginny looked on, concerned.  
>'What is it? Has something happened?'<br>Andromeda looked up, and smiled, albeit a little half heartedly.

'Nothing's wrong, it's ok. Just something that I didn't expect to happen. But no matter. Oh, look, Harry's left you a postscript!' She smiled slyly over at Ginny.

'What?'

'He's asking you out to dinner tonight at 8. If he doesn't get any reply, he'll assume you're on and he'll pick up at 7:30 from your flat.'

Ginny jumped to her feet in a rush. Andromeda laughed.

'See? I told you so. All that worrying for nothing.'

'Thanks Meda!' Ginny gave her a hug. 'I have to go! Bye Teddy Bear!' She turned to give Teddy a cuddle, but found that he was having a staring competition with the owl, his eyes now a bright amber colour. Ginny laughed again, ruffled his hair, and then shot out the door, disapparating on the bottom step.

Andromeda watch as Ginny disappeared, and then returned to the letter. It had been so long, but finally Andromeda had the chance to see Narcissa again.

But was it what she wanted?

As Andromeda watched Teddy play in the lounge room, she was reminded of the new life she had, the new life with Teddy. She had come through the fire, through the war, and though there had been many scars, she had survived, and she had the most beautiful grandson to build a new life around.

And she wasn't so sure that she wanted to be reminded of those old memories.

_She's sitting in the lounge room, hearing a lecture from her mother about talking with 'those filthy muggles'._

_She's sitting at dinner, while Bellatrix tells them that the Dark Lord is gathering followers._

_She's at Bellatrix's wedding, and everyone's looking at her as if to tell her that she's next._

_She's in the head common room, kissing Ted Tonks for the first time.  
>She's in Ted's family home, and he's proposing.<em>

_She's telling her family that she's engaged to Ted, and the faces of her family scare her._

_She's being pushed up against a wall, and Bellatrix is ordering her to call off the engagement or 'there will be consequences'._

_She's shouting at her family, telling them she's leaving and she hates them, and there's a little spark in her cousin Sirius's eye._

_She's receiving the letter from Sirius, saying that she's been disowned and her name has been blasted off the family tree._

_She's cradling a baby Nymphadora, and silently crying over the letter she has received from her parents. _

_She's opening the door to Sirius at one in the morning, who's finally run away from home. _

_She's being told that the Potters are dead, and Sirius betrayed them._

_She's sitting on a bench at the back of a courtroom, watching Bellatrix being sentenced to life in Azkaban.  
>She's read that Sirius has escaped from Azkaban - it's all over the papers. <em>

_She's heard the news of the mass breakkout, and her sister is counted amongst the missing.  
>She's hearing on the radio that Sirius is dead, and he's been pardoned of the crimes he was accused of. <em>

_She's watching Nymphadora getting married to Remus Lupin.  
>She's being told that she's going to be a grandmother.<br>She's listening to Remus tell her that her husband is dead, and Bellatrix killed him.  
>She's holding Teddy for the first time.<br>She's pleading with Nymphadora, telling her not to go.  
>She's heard the news: Voldemort is defeated, the Rebellion is triumphant, and her daughter is dead. <em>

And silently, the tears began to pour down her face, as Andromeda wept for her family, and for the sisters she had once loved.

And with that, Andromeda had made up her mind. Summoning parchment and ink, she composed a quick letter to her sister.

_Come for tea at 4 on Friday. Our house is the third one along the lane from the village, with the blue gate._

Scribbling her address on the bottom of the letter, Andromeda folded up the parchment and handed it to the owl, which was still standing on the table.

'Deliver this to Narcissa.' She told him, and the owl bobbed his head, as if to nod, and then flew off into the setting sun.

Turing her attention back to her godson, she smiled.  
>'Teddy bear, how would you like to spend Friday afternoon with Aunty Hermione?' She knew that Hermione did not work on Fridays and was always ecstatic when asked to look after Teddy for an afternoon.<br>Teddy looked up, his eyes shining.

'Yes please!'

* * *

><p>Everything was set: Teddy was off watching a Harpies practice game with Hermione, her sister had received the letter and had accepted, and the house was vaguely tidy.<br>Everything was ready, except Andromeda herself.

It was to be expected that she would not be in her best state of mind, but Andromeda hadn't expected to be like this. Exactly one hour from when her sister was to arrive, and there she was running around the house, straightening photos on the mantelpiece and waving her wand around randomly. Only after she nearly sent a vase of flowers flying did Andromeda sit down, pour herself a cup of tea, and try to collect her thoughts.

'It's going to be alright.' She told herself. 'You're just a bit nervous, that's all. I'm sure she's more scared than you are. You're the older one, you're meant to take charge.'  
>But this seemed to have little effect, and Andromeda was on the verge of tearing her hair out.<br>Remembering that she kept a bottle of calming draught in a cupboard for particularly stressful situations, she summoned it with a flick of her wand and then poured a large helping into her tea.  
>'Calm, Andromeda, calm.' She told herself.<p>

And, then, just as she was beginning to regain control, there were two soft knocks on the door.

Narcissa heard footsteps coming towards the door, and then silence. Very slowly, the door knob turned, and it swung forwards.  
>Narcissa immediately recognised her sister. Unlike Bellatrix, who had spent so many years in Azkaban, the years seemed to have had minimal effect of Andromeda. She was still strikingly beautiful: her hair fell down in waves, and she stood tall. But her eyes alone told the true horror she had been through, the horror of losing a husband, daughter and son-in-law in less than a year, and the full weight of responsibility that looking after a grandchild contained.<br>The two sisters, dark and fair, stood on either side of the door, staring at each other, until the older one nodded her head slightly and managed to say: 'You'd better come in then.'  
>Narcissa followed her sister into a brightly lit lounge room. Paintings and photos hung on the wall, and the mantelpiece was covered by photos full of people, waving at the room.<br>'I'll make tea.' Andromeda said softly, and promptly left the room.  
>Narcissa took in her surroundings. It was a pretty house, full of light and colour, but it seemed quiet, as if it was usually filled with noise. She wandered over to the photos on the mantelpiece, and looked down at them. There were very few photos at the manor – the Malfoys had never been photo takers, and even if they had, there was really nobody apart from Draco that Narcissa wanted any photos of. But Andromeda seemed to be the exact opposite. There were dozens of photos – most of a girl with ever changing hair, who grew up at the photo's progressed. She was often joined by Andromeda and a man that Narcissa had only ever seen once, but she knew to be Ted Tonks. Right in the middle of the display, a woman and a man sat together. The woman cradled a baby in her arms. Narcissa was just leaning in, to take a closer look at the photograph when Andromeda entered the room, making her jump. Andromeda offered her a mug.<br>They drank in silence for several minutes. Narcissa was surprised that after 27 years, her sister still remembered how she liked her tea.

Narcissa decided that things really couldn't get worse between her and Narcissa, and plucked up the courage to ask her sister something.  
>'Is that-'<br>'-My daughter, Nymphadora, yes, yes it is.' Andromeda replied quickly.  
>Her daughter, who Narcissa had never met. Her daughter, who had been murdered by their older sister.<br>Narcissa was sure she had put her foot in it, but her courage seemed to have lit a spark in Andromeda, and she burst into speech.  
>'This is her when she's just a baby.' She pointed to a picture at the back. 'Her hair began changing the moment she was born.' Another photo, across from the first: 'And, here at her first birthday party, with us. This one's when she's five, just after she used her first magic: you can see the ink on her overalls if you look closely enough.' Andromeda slowly moved along the row, not omitting a single photo. 'And here, ah yes, this is her and her friend Marlene at her eighth birthday party, sparkles and all. This one was taken the day she got into Hogwarts – she literally attacked the owl in her rush to get her letter.' Andromeda paused for breath before pointing at a long frame on the right. 'And here's each year – you can see the different hair-styles. She experimented a lot, used to annoy us no end. And this one was taken the day she became an Auror – we were so proud, Ted and I.'<p>

Narcissa realised what her sister was doing, why she was showing her all these photos, explaining what they meant. It was, in Andromeda's own strange way, a means of filling Narcissa in on all the years she had missed: all the letters and conversations, all the laughs and tears, all the things that might have been shared if things had been different.

Narcissa moved slightly and pointed to the photo in the middle.  
>'And that is...'<br>'Dora with her husband, Remus, and their son Teddy.'

Narcissa had known that her niece had married Remus Lupin – Voldemort had used it as a way of shaming their family in front of his death-eaters on several occasions, and when she had first heard the news, secretly she was proud of her niece, and how she had no care for the prejudices of the world.  
>'He was a werewolf, and 13 years Dora's elder,' Andromeda said quietly. 'But Dora and Teddy made him young again.'<br>Narcissa nodded slowly, unsure of what to say.

'I was shocked, to begin with, when she brought him home for the first time. I guess I was expecting someone younger, handsomer, more, well, interesting. He appeared at first to be quite a boring person. But then I remembered that he was one of Sirius's best friends at school, and I realised that I was being too Black-like, that I was immediately jumping to conclusions and bringing up the old prejudices that never really die.'  
>Andromeda sat down in an old knitting chair, and Narcissa followed, perching on the edge of the lounge, afraid that she still wasn't welcome; that at any moment she would be asked to leave.<br>'And that day was proof that first appearances are deceiving. Remus Lupin turned out to be a funny, intelligent and caring man, who just happened to be a werewolf. Dora called it his 'furry little problem'. And I knew that if Dora was happy, then I would be a horrible person to remove that happiness from her. After all, I chose who I wanted to marry, so why should it be any different for her?'  
>Narcissa nodded slowly. Andromeda had, of course, decided on her own husband, which had cost her more than her place in the Black family. But Andromeda had been happy with her husband, more so than Bellatrix or she had ever been...<br>While Black marriages were never pre-arranged, unlike some of the other pure-blood families, they were somewhat tampered with. Several suitable men were decided on, and it was arranged so that the daughter was 'steered' in the right direction, so that whoever she chose was a 'suitable' match. It was in that manner that Bellatrix had met Rodolphus, and she Lucius. It meant that they had had some freedom in their choice, but not the freedom Andromeda had had with Ted. But of course, she had never seen it that way when she was younger. The blinders placed on her by her family had never allowed her to know the truths of the world. But slowly she had begun to understand, slowly began to see the facade, but it was too late.  
>They slipped into silence again. Narcissa had no idea what to say. Despite the fact that she had not spoken with her sister for 27 years, Narcissa could find nothing to talk about. She was startled then, when Andromeda spoke again.<br>'I'm sorry Cissa.'  
>Narcissa was surprised. If anyone should be apologising, it was her.<br>'I'm sorry for not telling you anything, for not letting you know about me and Ted before I told everyone. You were still young, and the family hadn't quite gained its grip on you. If I had told you, explained to you why I had to leave, then everything would have been so different. And even if I hadn't, I could have written to you. Sirius told me you were so upset when I left.'  
>'But I was selfish, I only cared about myself, and I left you to the wolves, so to speak. In that house of horrors. Some big sister I was. Can you ever forgive me?'<p>

Andromeda leant over and took Narcissa's hand. It was as if they were children again, a scared Narcissa clutching the hand of her more confident elder sister.  
>The tears began to well up in Narcissa's eyes.<br>'There is nothing, absolutely nothing to forgive, Andromeda. The fault is mine. I could have asked, I could have followed you that night. I could have written or somehow contacted you, but I didn't. I let Bellatrix get to me. I was terrified of what she would do. So you went your way, into the light, and I chose my own road down to misery and pain. And now the time is gone. There's a break we can't mend, a wound that will never heal.'  
>Andromeda smiled, and the room seemed to become lighter somehow, as if a curtain had been pulled, letting the light shine in. 'Maybe not. Maybe we can never go back to the way we once were. But dwelling on what might have been only leads to madness and despair. We can move forward, pluck the courage and hope for a brighter future. After all, you came here, did you not? And I opened my door to you. So there is hope. All we have to do is work with what we've got.'<br>Narcissa nodded, letting the tears fall down her face.  
>Certainly, they could not ever forget what had happened in the past, and that time apart had marked them for life, but the opportunity had risen to begin anew, to forge a friendship and to become true sisters again, and as the two sisters hugged, Narcissa decided that she would take that opportunity with both hands.<p>

**First of all, thank you for reading! This is probably the longest one shot I've ever written, and so far it's one of my favourites. I've always been really interested in the Black sisters, and writing this story allowed me to delve into their back story.  
>I'd like to thank Seraphina Lenobia and Finding Your Voice for all their help and inspiration with this fic. I could not have completed it without you two!<br>Thanks for reading, and please leave a review!**

**And now for the technical stuff...**

**1. If you noticed the link with the name of Draco's owl, well done you! If you didn't, it's ok. Draco's owl is called Septimus, the first name of the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus. So Draco calling his owl Septimus is a little tribute to his old head of house. **

**2. Before I get a flood of messages from people saying 'why did Andromeda remember taking Sirius in after he ran away from home? He went to James's house!', remember that Sirius was only 16 at the time. He was underage, he didn't know how to apparate properly, and assuming he had some of his stuff with him, we wouldn't have been able to transform and then run there as a dog. So the first place he might go would be Andromeda's, if she lived close to London, because there he would be able to contact James, and ****then**** go stay with him. **

**3. If anyone's wondering why Andromeda refers to Hermione in front of Teddy as 'Aunt Hermione', well one would assume that Hermione and Ron spent a lot of time with Harry and with Teddy (since Harry is determined to be a great god-father to Teddy), and Ron and Hermione kind of took on aunt and uncle roles, even though none of them are married... yet :D.**

4. One more thing. In this fanfiction, I mentioned that Lucius is in Azkaban, and that's one of the reasons Narcissa is able to visit her sister. First of all, I searched all over, but I could not find a reliable quote from J.K Rowling on whether or not any of the Malfoys ended up in Azkaban. Therefore, I drew my own conclusions on the situation. There was probably enough evidence to prove that Draco had been coerced into Death-Eaterhood, and therefore would have only received a smaller sentence, such as house arrest. Narcissa did not actually have the Dark mark (confirmed by J.K) and as she helped Harry... well, I do not thing Harry would have let her go to Azkaban. Lucius, however, is another matter. He served as a death-eater in both wars, and was pretty high up in death eaters ranks. Despite the fact that he really didn't care by the end of the battle of Hogwarts whether Voldemort won or not, his crimes cannot be excused. So I believe that he went to Azkaban, but only for a couple of years, before being released on 'bail'.  
>Narcissa implied in this fic that Lucius would have stood in her way of going to her sister. I do not think he would have done it in a Bellatrix like way, but more a cowardly way. I think his excuse would have been 'no more public humiliation', or something of the sort.<p> 


End file.
